The New Zealand Tablest THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1906. AN OPERA-BOUFFE 'SCHISM'

New Zealand Tablet, 6 December 1906, Page 21

The New Zealand Tablest THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1906. AN OPERA-BOUFFE 'SCHISM'

■ * Gttfisfr HE" submanne wne, like a compo-ptpe, must jff t jloJl cany is poured into it, whethei.it jscHlp* be sewage or siphon-soda, assafoe'tida or attai of loses. A steady stream, of iru\dious misiepiesentation, open falsehood, and foul calumny has been pouied into the Pans X "Sw^' oince of the sea and ocean babies ever since » the dominant ' machine ' that Tammanies the country enteied upon the bittei campaign which (as M. Briand, Mimstei of Justice and Education, boasted at Amiens) has the hunting of t Christ ' out of the schools, out of the unrveisity, out of the_ hospitals, 'out of the lefuges, nay, out of the gaols and lunatic' asylums''. And these pioud achievements aie (accoiding to M. Bnand) to be crowned., Jjy a supreme ■ 'effoit to ' get nd of Chiishcuuty ' itself in Fiance In our issue of Novembei 15, we detailed sufficientW the latest lesort of the Fiench atheistic legime to ' get nd ' ' "of Christianity' After having- closed 27,000- schools and plunilcred and m part banished 160,000 persons devoted to avoiKs ot education and charity, the Chnst- ' hunters ■ are now trying to- force a'new constitution

■ domination, lay; associations, These are to be w<holly> independent ; < of,the authQrity.,V; but,: com-.-. ; pletely at;:-the mercy:; of;; aj;Gx)uncib of State; even rf or: their corporate or no erped/p they/ Vc^' '..' worship ;', they,- please:'•^ ; trol of churches, seminaries, u etc.^r.-An v d the (at present; Gbuh(iil';o '/the ? "ag^ secular Vani partisan jto decwie .on tipns of faith -and ■>• ;: i; : : V-'f---V: In the despicable class of .political who ',-. r were known by the contemptuous nickname, ;' potwallopers'. This corps d'elite of the'p'olitical chicanery-of the; v day were' a'fi tent oh ' boiling pot''-, -Reform or" no Refprm. They / were the T; creatures aild : ■'"f^s;' ;^"! pf; the' ."party,, '.the,' obsequious , every scurvyHrick and: desirable in' 'their! ca'mpaigrt A 'against: ; dhe ; growing- spirit of : civil" ; anjd'"" religious liberty. inf furtherahce ? of the- ; r bent-riur g«d for matipnj p|ir jv<tf fiance'■'of v the bishops,; c6unt : upen :;the u^p6twall6^ Is" legion.'^AJew of pyitj-t^eir: : ' toother and 'formed >. ■aa< • associationr,.witiy> the ,fraudufent,, designation, "Theleague- ot F-rehch'iCatholicS:'., - for the purpose of puttdiig 1 into iStactice'the ■ "entreaty, : } of ■M. Briahd, cation.•. A few, ; - : weeks,-.ago the* at.Paris ahrtounced: with ando ! and a>Xlourish;of> trumpets;the-.forrnar jlirph-'of this ''beialgue pf j Frenchtheffjaapal- interdict ;/"and of'some hundreds sal associations for"public worship throughout the various departments'into which the country is'dh'id'ed." ' . ''. ; r.;i "' : "'''"".':'"."' '"', •

. ' the,..;'^i/eague... is -or hack journalist ; named Des Hon^— an a paid servant of the,; atheistic*" ?^Malin^j r which as a seim-officiaj .organ \ of the ■' Fteemasort-lla'dical-Socialist" ' Bloc ', -and noted | tor .the; vindictive Ojilterriess of its/antagonism '■; to the j Catholic revealed religion., ; We '■. gave; some \ Scraps of Des Houx v s biography in -.our, issue of- ,Novem- ] -her 15..' M.; Yves Guybt is another of: the:-: aggressive \ infidels whom Paris -tried to pawn: off j upon - ; olic'; lle ; - the: ediio:r oO " decrepit ' Siecle'•'-,•'; "an; : anti-Catholic: and. : Voltairean ; organ. Tv/o other who assisted in launch- ; ing-the ...so-called ; ' ;>vere \ M. Comely and >M. :de ; .Bonn*tons: - The latter,-(says a ,: J writer in the • Review '): .; is ihe worst f offender"of the 1 party/;fdf he ; has agaih ; and -again been [■ convicted of "inaccuracy^ : .- and + his V: ;. in \ the V wiUivithe,:- Pope and 'oardinals v 3aye in- } variably been contradicted immediately after publica-J tion '. A representative 1 '< of * 'La-Patrie ' was present v when the League'was founded. 1 -The' dramatis -per sonae ; gathered; H 9 UX ~ ; away* up' on .the' fourth and'; there tfoeCpoliticiil \: farce-was- represen- \ tative of" '-La/ Patrie ', Sv; a -.large and , very darK rooih';'^ have judged t there feared notlXng so much'as to be rcooghised'. Des .\.. Houx's son sat at a tabie ' with a number of papers - ostentatiously 1 ; tQM;> containing '; thousands sers' I ."*'■■ Among';"the• fouiiders- -■ of£the.VLeague '■>- of : were 'ah uhlmown; Protestant-: ; ;niinister' =. and some, two unfrocked.pries ts-^onci'-'df- | "bare/ and dissipated .tliat; .'the' /.« Patrie ' ! "staff gave him.*' thence of- &, penny wivibh \ the'hapless pdtwalloper displayed indiscreet gratitude. And thus was founded the bogus League of ; French

' Catholics ' - about which -the cables spoke so- much 'portentous nonsense. Of the hundreds s of associations said to be formed" at the instance of Des Houx and his fellow anti-cleiicals, the latest European papers tc hand contain '.notices of tonly, tliree—three among thousand parishes into- which France--is divided, ' The semi-darkness out of which the new-League of' ' French Anti-Catholics was evolved was pernaps intended t<> enable the political thimble-riggers, Des Houx and Company, to keep the pea, beneath t>he thimble. v „ln this they' -happily failed. There were sundry chiels amang 'em takin 5 , notes. ~An'_ faith they prented them. The intended , tragedy of wholesale schism became a bit of opera bouffe —in a gaiiet. .And for all purposes of deception M. Biiand's League of French Cat's-paws may now (to use Carlyle's expression) pass like snowflakes on the «iiver or the foam of 'penny beer.